Sometimes
by otherwiseme
Summary: Answered your call for a pick-up from a drunken party even though you're my brother's friend and I've only met you once but it sounded like you really needed to get out of there AU


Incessantly buzzing on his bedside table, Itachi's cellphone spewed out a ringtone far too cheerful for this ungodly hour. Itachi groggily cursed the source of his rude awakening and buried his head deeper in his blankets, hoping to block out the persistent ringing. After a beat, the ringing stopped and Itachi sighed contentedly, eager to return to the promised land of unconsciousness.

And then the ringing started up again.

Bleary-eyed with sleep, Itachi looked over to his clock and rolled his eyes in exasperation to find that it was 3am in the morning. Groaning inwardly, he realised that he had only laid down in bed merely two hours ago after finishing an essay for his psychology class.

The silence of the night only emphasised the harsh synthetic sounds emitted from his cellphone and conveyed what Itachi assumed must be the urgency behind the call. Fumbling for his phone, Itachi made a mental note to change his ringtone. He cleared his throat and hoped the disdain in his voice wasn't too evident. He pressed answer, "Hello?" A vague muffled sound that sounded a lot like loud music was his reply.

Itachi's bristled. If this was another one of Deidara's sleep-talking butt dials he was gonna throttle him.

The number wasn't one that Itachi recognised and his caller ID and it informed him that it was someone by the name of Haruno disturbing him so early in the morning. Itachi was momentarily bewildered. Haruno. Why did that sound so vaguely familiar? He ran the name through his mind a few times and came up short. The only thing that correlated with the name was the colour pink. Itachi frowned. _Sasumi? Sousuke? Satsuki?_ Wasn't he one of Sasuke's friends?

He huffed with irritation and tried again. "Hello?" No response.

As Itachi contemplated hanging up, a tinkling voice answered on the other end of the line. "Hello? Itachi?"

Taken aback by the sound of a girl's voice coupled with his lack of sleep, Itachi was at a loss for words._ The voice_, Itachi idly remarked, _was oddly dainty and articulate in contrast to the blaring music in the background._

The aforementioned chiming voice jolted Itachi from his sleep-deprived thoughts. "Hello? Itachi, are you there?"

"Yep, I'm here." Itachi replied, voice still thick with sleep.

The voice on the other end let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, first of all sorry for calling you so late at night-"

"It's already morning." Itachi interrupted.

"Oh," the girl replied sheepishly. "Sorry." Itachi made a sound what she took for acceptance of her half-assed apology.

"And secondly," She continued meekly, "I kind of need you to come and pick me up from a party. My ride bailed on me. And by bailed on me I mean drunk and passed out on the couch." She added.

Itachi rolled over in his bed, massaging his temples. He had class around noon today, he could probably still get around eight hours of sleep before then. "How did you even get my number?"

"Sasuke gave it to me a couple of weeks after we became friends. He said that if I'm ever in a jiffy I should call you." The faintest trace of desperation crept into her voice, "And I'm kind of in a jiffy right now; I've got a paper due tomorrow- today, I guess."

Surprise flashed across Itachi's face. Sasuke didn't usually give out his number; this girl must not be a total knucklehead like that Naruto kid. Itachi reluctantly climbed out of bed. "Where are you?"

Itachi could hear the relief flooding into her voice, "I'm at your friend Hidan's place."

Itachi chuckled faintly. Hidan was a pretty extreme guy, so it's not surprising that he'd have a party the night before their biggest assignment was due. "Okay, I'm on my way. Just try to stay awake." Itachi said.

"Thank you."

Shortly after Itachi hung up the phone, he realised that he still didn't know her name. _Sawako_? Itachi shrugged. He'd find out soon enough.

Stumbling out of his bedroom, Itachi pulled on his Konoha University hoodie and threw on a pair of sweatpants over his boxers. He tied his hair into a messy ponytail and grabbed his car keys off the kitchen counter. In an attempt to avoid tripping over the pile of unfolded laundry that Kisame swore he would do it once he got home, Itachi ended up kicking the kitchen counter instead. "Fuck."

* * *

><p>Yawning and scratching his back, Kisame sluggishly emerged from his room to find a very irritated and tired Itachi, cradling his injured foot while muttering obscenities under his breath in the middle of the living room.<p>

Kisame let out a bark of laughter as he watched his roommate struggle to balance on one leg. He knew that encountering Itachi in such a state of discomposure was a special occasion, so Kisame slouched against his doorframe and tried to ingrain this moment into his mind. "You alright there, buddy?"

Itachi sighed.

"I thought you weren't home tonight," He said, straightening up briskly in a feeble attempt maintain what remained of his dignity. "That you had some kind of Swim Team party or something." _That way_, Itachi thought, _I could've avoided such an awkward confrontation._

"Nah, I got a bit hungry so I left early and grabbed some takeaway on the way home." Kisame explained. He crossed the room to the fridge and plucked out a bag of oil-stained fries. "I left at about 2am so I got home around half an hour ago." Grinning, Kisame settled himself on the couch and began shovelling limp fries into his mouth. "So Uchiha, where are you off to this wonderful morning?"

Itachi froze. Telling Kisame that he was going to pick up a girl from a party would give him enough ammunition to hound Itachi with endless mocks and jokes until Itachi inevitably murdered him to shut him up. Even then he would probably keep talking.

"I'm going to see a friend." Itachi said awkwardly.

"Deidara? What, does he need advice on a new sculpture-"

"You don't know her." Itachi added impulsively.

Grin widening, Kisame raised an eyebrow. "Her?"

Spinning on his heel, Itachi hastily strode towards the door and cursed himself inwardly. Sticking around would only result in a time-consuming interrogation that Itachi really didn't the patience for. "Don't wait up for me!" Itachi called out as he shut the door.

"Wasn't planning on it anyway!" Came the muffled reply.

Climbing out of his car, Itachi lsurveyed his surroundings and grinned in spite of himself. Hidan's apartment complex was the complete opposite of him. It was a cream coloured building adorned with intricately fashioned antique curls in the corners and a knocker in the shape of a lion on the front door. The door itself was made from what Itachi assumed to be, some kind of fancy wood and the colour reminded Itachi of hazelnuts. The building practically oozed class, whereas Hidan did not. Even though he was a bit of a nut job most of the time, Itachi was still quite fond of Hidan for some unfathomable reason.

Itachi let himself into the building and switched on his phone to find Sasuke's friend's number. As he dialled her number, Itachi looked around the room; everything was more or less the same. To his right was the doorman, who sat quietly behind the counter reading a book, and in front of him was the plush, onyx couch and the glass table where a bowl of exotic looking fruits sat. Suddenly feeling horribly underdressed in Hidan's lavish lobby, Itachi greeted the doorman awkwardly as he waited for her to pick up her phone.

"Hello?" She answered.

"I'm here, in the lobby." Itachi replied.

"Oh thank god," She said breathlessly, "Everyone I know has left already and I've had enough of assholes ogling me all night." After pausing to recompose herself, she continued, "Okay, I'm on my way down!"

Itachi clicked off his phone and put it back in his pocket. He contemplated whether or not to call Hidan to ask for her name but then quickly dismissed the idea. He rolled his eyes instinctively and smiled; since when did Hidan ever keep track of the people attending his parties?

With his phone back in his pocket and nothing to do while he waited for her to arrive, Itachi felt oddly self-conscious with only the doorman for company in the otherwise empty lobby. Resorting to staring intently at the bowl of fruit on the table in an attempt to avoid eye contact, the elevator arrived with a ring. Quickly realising how stupid he must look, staring at a bowl of fruit, Itachi hastily pulled out his phone to try and make himself seem not as much of an awkward idiot.

Attempting to appear normal and not at all sleep-deprived, Itachi nonchalantly raised his eyes from his phone and settled on the top of her head. Huh. _She's a bit shorter than I expected_, Itachi thought. When he looked at her face, Itachi noted that she was quite pretty. She had a lovely heart shaped face and eyes that reminded him of frost-kissed grass. Itachi could practically hear the cogs turning in his brain, linking her face to a name.

Too busy checking that she had everything, Sakura didn't notice Itachi matching her face to an old memory. "Yep, okay so that's everything I came with." She said to herself. Turning to Itachi, she flashed him a smile. "We good to go?"

The name Sakura drifted idly into Itachi's thoughts and a wave of triumph washed over him. Suddenly realising that she was expecting an answer to a question he didn't register, Itachi panicked and dumbly remarked, "Your hair is pink."

* * *

><p>AN: Yeah yeah I know I started Encounters but I just really like starting fics and literally never finishing them but idk maybe I'll keep going with this one I kinda like it

Also I don't even know what's up with the title like honestly I cannot think of anything


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